[Closed] Is this Japanese knotweed?

Looks like Russian Vine aka mile a minute plant.

Fallopia baldschuanica or mile-a-minute vine

Does look somewhat similar in the spade shaped leaves and colour but other stuff isn't right. leaves have a serrated edged (JK doesn't ) and JK stems have distinctive zig zag stems. Good guide section for all non native plants here. You can also see the sheet for Russian vine which seems a better match to what you have.

http://www.nonnativespecies.org/index.cfm?sectionid=47

funnily enough (not actually at all funny) we just found this hanging over the neighbouring fence this afternoon and had it confirmed by an expert by photo that it is indeed Japanese Knotweed.

Surprised how much of it is there is in the UK and pretty amazing this is the first time we've had a first hand encounter of it.

Knotweed is like mad invasive individual stalks, Russian vine is more mad smothering invasiveness, that one looks like a smothery rascal.

Knotweed?

[img] [/img]

One day I'll manage to post a ****ing picture on here.

Mod: Fixed for you.

If you do have japanese knotweed, do not despair. JKW is manageable if you keep on top of it. Eradication is wholly achievable and depending upon the size of the issue may take time and effort.

If you are not chemical averse hit it with glyposate about now (end of growing season). Best results come from cutting down, injecting with glyphosate and then repeating at a later date. Treatment at the start and end of the growing season shows best results. Glyphosate is a systemic herbicide and has been linked to a number of health conditions. User discretion is required.

If like myself, you wish to avoid chemicals- pull it up. Do NOT strim it. Do not compost it. Keep pulling up as it appears. However this is not always possible or practical, so it is (so far) the only plant I will use chemicals on.

@Onzadog, yup, definitely Japanese knotweed.

@Ambrose

Thanks, I think. 😔

I hope the fact it originates in the other side of the fence is in our favour.

It is in your favour, a landowner has a duty to ensure that it doesn't spread.

Is that just overground, or does that include underground as well? It's right up against the fence do I imagine we have roots now.

Any pulling or cuttings need to be disposed of carefully. local authorities don’t allow it to be disposed of in general or garden waste.even the smallest piece of the stem potentially can germinate.
The simplest way of getting rid of the waste is to let it dry out on an impervious surface and then burn it and then bury any remainder 2metres deep with membrane over it.
Explained here
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prevent-japanese-knotweed-from-spreading

Glyphosate is a systemic herbicide and has been linked to a number of health conditions

Extremely tenuous links and only from extended exposure. You will struggle to remove the root system without Glyphosate, it will regrow from the smallest piece which is why soil containing it would be treated as hazardous waste.

I once got a free tip of top soil from a builder lucky for me it went into a huge concrete planter it was full of the stuff. My wife spotted it and we drowned the lot in old fashioned weed killer and paraffin a lot of weed killer and a fair bit of salt. Nothing grew

1. No. Not JN. Definitely.
2. DO NOT ever pull japanese knotweed up. It takes less than 0.5cm of rhizome (underground root) to re-grow and the leaves and stems are controlled waste.
3. DO NOT cut - spray with glyphosate at the end of the growing season (preferably August just after it flowers) - the leaves take in the glyphosate and take it back down to the roots. If you cut it, then the transfer of glyphosate downwards doesn't happen. It'll die back a couple of weeks after application.
4. Next year there'll be regrowth but it'll be stunted. Continued respraying over a number of years is the answer.

I'm treating two large patches on my farm very sucessfully.

@chevychase

Onzadog's pic is of Japanese knotweed.

Different control regimes need different processes.

Pulling up the plant will eventually deprive the rhizome sufficiently that it is no longer viable. It is a LONG process. As you say, disposal is very difficult. Dessication followed by Incineration is a good way to do it.

If spraying you do need to do so onto foliage, preferably at each end of the growing season when the the plant is transporting down into the rhizome.

Was replying to the OP.

Pulling is a waste of time. Just spray with glyphosate. I don't use it anywhere else, or on anyting else, but it's safe to spray or paint onto the leaves.

As an aside - is it still possible as an individual to purchase glyphosate? I was under (possibly false) understanding that glyphosate required a license now?

As an aside – is it still possible as an individual to purchase glyphosate? I was under (possibly false) understanding that glyphosate required a license now?

It might depend on concentration levels. I bought some (360g per litre concentration. 1 litre makes up to 50 litres of weedkiller) for some particularly stubborn and persistent weeds in my fathers garden. Seems to work well

Roundup, which is glyphosate, is available to buy. I don't know if it's domestic strength, and industrial strength requires a license.

I bought some (360g per litre concentration

Roundup is 7.2g per litre.

Doesn't JKW just laugh at lower concentrations and then build up a resistance?

Well as you dilute it whether it's commercial or domestic grade you can set the concentration, just don't buy it in the prediluted pump action bottles, it'll be weak, not enough, lots of plastic waste and it'll kill your hand. You'll probably need a decent garden centre and be prepared for the cost, it isn't cheap.

Get the 360g/l stuff (or better). Don't spray near watercourses - paint the leaves instead.

Either way - the OP hasn't got a knotweed problem. But if you do - either get a contractor in (if it's from a neighbouring property they are clearly liable for this cost - about £5k to get a certified treatment done) or pay up, get the correct stuff and do it yourself.

You need to fess up to estate agents if you have it also if you're moving house.

about £5k to get a certified treatment done) or pay up, get the correct stuff and do it yourself.

And the rest. In-laws just bought a house which had it in the garden - sellers had ticked 'no' on the SPIF to the JK question, despite having known about it for years (gardener confirmed he'd been treating it for at least eight years!).

Cost to eradicate and treat with a 10-year guarantee is currently circa £38k, being paid by the sellers.